On February 25th a retirement party was held at a union restaurant in San Francisco for Jack Heyman, longtime militant in ILWU Local 10. Heyman, a member of the Labor Action Committee, was instrumental in organizing the 1999 port shutdown and march in San Francsico for Mumia, during which 25,000 marched, against Mumia’s execution. This action was the first port shutdown in defense of a political prisoner in the United States. Here are Mumia’s remarks for the party:
Long Live John Africa! On a Move!
Greetings to all assembled in honor of Jack Heyman, the longtime ILWU organizer and organizer for a half dozen other causes besides. Jack represents the best of the labor tradition, one not bounded by national borders or the other lines we create to keep us corralled into spaces approved by the state. I think the last time I saw him on the tube he was in London before about a million people protesting maybe the stupidest war in generations — Iraq.
Jack knows, as do we all, that our borders are a lot like prison walls that keep us divided and isolated. So he spent a lot of time and a lot of energy with his sledgehammer knocking holes in the walls.
Oh, by the way, I KNOW, I KNOW that Wisconsin has him chomping at the bit. Anyway, congratulations on his retirement and, On a Move.
This is Mumia Abu-Jamal.